"Divine Collision": More Praise for Jim Gash Book and Film
January 28, 2016 -- Divine Collision, Pepperdine Law professor Jim Gash's newly released book about his work in Uganda through Pepperdine's Global Justice Program, as well as an upcoming Revolution Pictures documentary on the same topic, REMAND, have garnered more public attention in recent days, including stories in the Abilene Reporter News, ACU Optimist Newspaper, LCU Newspaper, and Relevant Magazine:
If Jim Gash's goal was to change the judicial system in Uganda, he succeeded.
If Gash's goal was to write a book and produce a quality documentary about that experience, he succeeded.
If Gash's goal was to inspire idealistic college students to learn from his example and to find their own calling and pursue it, he succeeded.
-- "Each person can make an impact, big or small" in Abilene Reporter News
If you had told Jim Gash at the start of his legal career that he'd end up representing a wrongly imprisoned teenager in Ugandan High Court, he probably wouldn't have believed you.
In the last five years, Gash has traveled to Uganda 17 times, has planed a role in reforming the country's criminal justice system, has written a book and been featured in a documentary telling the story of this journey.
-- "'Divine Collision': Alumnus tells story on page and screen" in ACU Optimist
Though Gash was hesitant at first to participate in missions or go to Africa at all, God had other plans. On his first trip to Uganda, Gash connected with Henry, a Ugandan teen wrongfully accused of two murders, and the two formed a lasting relationship. Eventually, Gash became the first American to appear in a Ugandan court when he argued Henry's case in 2013. Henry was exonerated in June of 2015. Gash has also been instrumental in helping the Ugandan High Court improve their judicial system and has traveled with several groups of Pepperdine law students to continue making a difference in Uganda.
-- "Author, Attorney, & Professor of Law Jim Gash Visits LCU to Speak About Missions" in LCU News
The shrill trill of an unfamiliar phone unceremoniously yanked me from a deep slumber. A clock I didn't recognize mockingly blinked 2:03 a.m. "Where am I, and who's calling me at this hour?," I thought.
The cobwebs vaporized as the caller assured me no student interns were injured by the bomb blast that killed more than 100 spectators two hours earlier at a venue projecting the 2010 World Cup finals onto a big screen in Kampala. As I hung up, I thought about what in the world I was doing in Uganda for third time this year.
The answer was simple: Bob Goff.
Nine months earlier, he exploded my apathetic life. And if you're ready to blow up your own apathetic life, too, I can offer you a few lessons that I learned during my own journey
--Jim Gash, in "How to Destroy an Apathetic Life," a solicited piece for Relevant Magazine